Who was Barbara Mitchell?
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One Energy Boom, Two Approaches: Fiscal Restraint Has Left Texas in Better Shape than Alberta

One Energy Boom, Two Approaches: Fiscal Restraint Has Left Texas in Better Shape than Alberta finds that Alberta’s deficits and mounting debt are largely the result of undisciplined spending and fiscal mismanagement, not just a drop in energy prices. By comparison, Texas controlled spending during the energy boom of 2004 to 2014, and, partly as a result, ran five straight surpluses between fiscal years 2009 and 2013. Alberta, which increased spending at a greater rate than Texas, ran four deficits during that same five-year period, and has continued to run deficits in the years since, with the exception of a small surplus in 2014/2015. Further, Alberta doesn’t expect to balance the budget again until at least 2024.

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Regulation and Funding of Independent Schools: Lessons from Sweden

Regulation and Funding of Independent Schools: Lessons from Sweden examines the Scandinavian country’s education reforms since the 1990s, which increased school choice for low- and middle-income families. The study finds as full government funding was extended to independent schools—including for-profit institutions—enrolment in independent schools increased substantially, from less than two per cent of total enrolment in 1992 to more than 14 per cent in 2014 in elementary grades, and more than 25 per cent in upper-secondary grades.

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Why First Nations Succeed

Why First Nations Succeed finds that First Nations in Canada with the highest living standards—according to the federal government’s Community Well-Being Index—capitalize on, rather than oppose economic opportunities available to them, such as tourism, recreation and natural resources. They are also governed by long-serving, fiscally prudent chiefs who are paid less than the average for all First Nations leaders.

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Report Card on Quebec's Secondary Schools 2016

The Report Card on Quebec’s Secondary Schools 2016 ranks 459 public, private, Francophone and Anglophone schools based largely on results from provincewide tests in French, English, science, mathematics and history. It finds that 44 secondary schools in the province—34 of them public—have improved their performance over the past five years.

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Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries, 2016 finds that, among comparable countries with universal health care, Canada is the third highest spender but our performance ranks modest-to-low. Notably, Canada ranks 24 out of 28 countries for the number of physicians (2.59 per 1,000 people), and at the bottom for wait times.

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New Homes and Red Tape in Alberta: Residential Land-Use Regulation in the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor

New Homes and Red Tape in Alberta: Residential Land-Use Regulation in the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor finds that the City of Calgary is stifling new home builds with burdensome red tape, compared to more development-friendly suburbs. Permit approval times in Calgary for residential developments average a staggering 13.5 months, compared to an average of 7.5 months for five of the city’s suburbs. Edmonton ranked sixth out of 12 municipalities in this updated survey of developers in terms of homebuilding regulations, and Calgary ranked tenth.

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Counting Votes: Essays on Electoral Reform is a new book that finds first-past-the-post is the best electoral system to keep governments accountable, coalition governments (and spending) increase under Proportional Representation, and the Alternative Vote—also known as ranked ballots—would weaken the competitiveness of elections. It also highlights the constitutional requirement—given previous conventions—of a referendum to make any significant change to the way Canadians elect their governments.

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